An eye for an eye
by ziverdavid1112
Summary: <html><head></head>Pls give a shot...first Fic, about au character related to Ziva. Tiva When a girl shows up with news about Ziva, she quickly gets drawn into the newest NCIS case. How does she know everyone, and who is she?</html>
1. Chapter 1

Hey all! This is my first Fic, so please read and review!

if I owned NCIS, Cote de Pablo would've never left

Tony was just sitting at his desk, pretending to be busy, when the elevator dinged open. He straightened hurriedly, in case it was Gibbs, but it was just a girl, maybe 19 or 20, who looked around, then headed over towards him.

"Are you Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo?" She asked forcefully. He frowned suspiciously.

"Maybe."

She nodded.

"Wonderful, where is Special Agent Gibbs?"

He shrugged.

"Out. He'll be back within the hour."

He watched her as she settled in Bishop's desk. She hadn't taken her reflective aviator sun shades off, and so DiNozzo couldn't really tell where she was looking. She had black high top vans, olive cargo jeans, and a black 3/4 sleeve cotton knit. Her hair was French braided on the top, then it turned into a high pony-tail.

Tony didn't usually give everyone this level of observation, but the girl reminded him almost exactly of Ziva, down to the cold, yet flirty aura she had given off when they first met.

"That's my co-worker's desk." Tony told her coolly.

"Well, I wasn't aware Ziva still worked here. Though I suppose you could be talking about Bishop." She told him, her eyebrows raised above her avies. Tony's head snapped up.

"How do you know Ziva and Bishop?"

He demanded.

She smiled mysteriously and looked at the elevator as Gibbs disembarked.

"Gibbs. Shalom." She said, going and hugging him. Tony mentally filed away the fact that she spoke at least a little bit of Hebrew. McGee, who had come up with Gibbs, leaned over Tony's desk.

"Who's that?" McGee hissed. Tony shrugged.

"Don't I wish I knew."

McGee narrowed his eyes.

"You didn't do any prying into her life? No hacking onto Gibbs' computer? Nothing?"

Tony shook his head.

"Are you sick?" McGee asked, putting his hand to Tony's forehead. He swatted it away.

"No, McNurse, I'm not."

The truth was, ever since Ziva left, Tony hadn't really wanted to do anything. No prying, no flirting, no sake bombing. He hadn't played a trick on McGee since before Parsons ruined everything by attacking Gibbs.

Tony blamed Parsons. Stupid Parsons had triggered Ziva's stupid 'Israeli sense of duty.' Stupid McGee had followed Ziva's stupid loyalty. Which had triggered Tony's stupid guilt that he hadn't, which made him decide to turn his badge in with them. Which had ruined everything. And then, Tony and McGee got their badges back and after a huge mess, Ziva decided not to get hers back.

"Bella!" Abby's squeal jolted Tony's bitter thoughts.

"Abby knows her too?" McGee echoed Tony's thoughts. As Abby engulfed her in a hug, Bella stood tense, like she'd been expecting attack.

"Hereicameupheretotalktogibbsandifindthatyourehereandwhyareyouherenotthatimunhappytoseeyou-"

"Let'er breathe Abs." Gibbs intervened looking at Bella, who stood uncomfortably, like she was reliving really bad memories. Abby released her, and Bella gave her a tense smile.

"Good to see you Abby."

"Why 〰are〰 you here Bella?" Gibbs asked, not unkindly.

"Ziva's in trouble. I was told she is dead." Bella answered bluntly, causing a dead silence from the squad room.

"You were told what?" Gibbs asked after a minute.

"That she was dead." Bella repeated. "But I will not believe that."

" Good. " Abby said quietly. "There's hope, then."

Bella nodded. "Ziva was a better fighter then people know. And I also do not trust Samir."

"Samir?" McGee asked.

"The last Bodnar." Bella responded bitterly. The team mulled this new information over.

"There's another one?" McGee asked tiredly. Bella nodded. "The new assistant director of Mossad."

"Can we go back to how you know Ziva and Bishop?" Tony spoke up. McGee nodded.

"And Gibbs, and Abby." He tacked on.

"And Ducky and Jenny and Kate?" Bella continued, making everyone pause again to look at her.

"Hell, I might as well get it ALL over with." She finished.

"You know Ducky?" Abby asked, surprised.

"You knew Jen?" Gibbs asked, obviously startled by this unknown tidbit.

"You knew KATE?" Both Tony and Tim asked at the same time.

Bella sighed and sat back down at Ziva's old desk.

"Gibbs, I met in Russia, on an op. Almost killed him, not realizing he was a US agent. I thought he was a Russian assassin. After meeting him, when I was maybe, 9, I decided not to kill him and-"

"Hold on! You were on a op at age 9?"

Tony interrupted, drawing a glare from Bella. He shrugged. "That's an interesting childhood."

"They were short officers." She snapped, before continuing.

"Two years later I was at a forensics retreat at the California Bureau of Investigation, where I met Ducky. He was presenting on Forensic Psychology, and though I didn't attend his presentation, he managed to capture my interest after he mentioned that he worked with Gibbs."

"And then she met me!" Abby interrupted. Bella gave her a small smile.

"Yes. I met Abby in a coffee shop the month after. She was the fourth person I had met from NCIS. I had met Kate in Hawaii about a year before I met Gibbs. When I saw Gibbs again when I was 12, I decided I should join NCIS. "

"And here you are 5 years later, with badges to 4 different federal agencies."

Gibbs finished.

"I am...restless, I suppose." Bella admitted.

"And you have a tendency to bully people into letting you have a badge while you still hold others."

"I have never tipped secrets from one agency to another." Bella replied indignantly.

"The expression is 'spilling' secrets." Tony corrected automatically. She shrugged.

"Whatever."

Gibbs' phone rang, making everyone jump. He picked it up.

"Mmhmmmm...k,...we're on our way."

Tony grabbed his gear.

"That a case call, Boss?"

Gibbs nodded. "Gear up. Dead marine in Annapolis"

Tony and McGee headed towards the elevator, but Gibbs looked back.

"You coming, Bella?"

Bella grinned, hopped off Ziva's desk, grabbed a backpack from who knows where and squeezed in the elevator before it closed.


	2. Chapter 2

If I owned NCIS, tiva would be happening.

At the crime scene, Bella was more of a help than Tony would've thought. She didn't even wait for Gibbs to tell her what to do, but immediately grabbed a camera and started snapping pictures of the mangled body. According to McGee, he was Petty Officer Kirk Highland. However the 'poor man' as Ducky proclaimed, had been desecrated by humans, and not animals. On the Petty Officer's neck was a symbol, a sort of trident shape.

"Do you recognize this Anthony?" Ducky asked, showing Tony the symbol. Tony shrugged.

"Haven't seen it before."

Bella nudged him out of the way.

"Lemme see!" She insisted. Once Tony scooted over so she could see, she became a little pale. "Ah."

Tony watched as she ran off towards Gibbs. "What was that about?" He asked not really expecting an answer. And yet, he still got one.

"That child has seen more violence than you and I combined. I don't doubt she knows exactly what that means."

Tony was vaguely aware of Ducky walking back to the truck, but Tony was preoccupied by trying to figure out who Bella was. She had managed to tell them her story without telling them much at all. And that required skill.

"Tony." McGee caught Tony's arm as Tony walked by.

"I've been thinking about what Bella was saying earlier. She left out how she knew Ziva."

Tony slightly aware of the past tense, but decided to focus on what McGee was saying.

"And about how Ziva..y'know.."

McGee nodded, not needing Tony to finish the sentence.

"I don't know if I believe it."

For a minute the two men stared at each other, silently grappling with the bomb that had been dropped in their already tumultuous lives. Then Bella came over to them.

"I hate to ship in, but Gibbs is calling the two of you." She said apologetically. Tony cracked a smile.

"It's 'barge in'."

Tony called, walking to Gibbs. Gibbs motioned to the car.

"All of you, in."

"Shotgun!" Bella called triumphantly. Tony shook his head.

"How do you remember shotgun, but not barge?"

In the car, Gibbs told them about the symbol. It was a gang symbol, belonging to El Tridente Fuerte. Apparently they were not someone to cross, if Bella's demeanor was any judge.

McGee seemingly noticed her change as well.

"Have you come across them before Bella?"

She didn't look back at him, but stayed facing front.

"El Tridente Fuerte. One of the worst gangs to cross in all the world. They are notorious for teaming up with whoever they feel like will get the job done. Often though, after the job is done, they double cross their so called 'partners', and kill them. They are awful, though their name doesn't seem too ferocious."

"El Tridente Fuerte." Tony murmured. "My Spanish is a little rusty. What does that mean?"

"The Powerful Trident." Gibbs said, making a sharp right turn.

Tony slammed into McGee, making him wince. Bella sighed, seemingly oblivious to the backseat problems.

"But, to answer your question McGee, yes. I have dealt with them before. It...was not cute."

"Pretty." Tony corrected. ."Is that an Israeli thing, or a knowing-5-languages thing?"

Bella finally turned around. "The issue with expressions? I would think it is because English is not my first language. Also, Tony, I speak 9 languages, not 5."

Tony rolled his eyes, while slamming into McGee again.

"I wish you'd stop with the turns, boss" McGee complained, rubbing his shoulder.

"Where are we going anyway?" Tony asked, ignoring McGee.

"The house of El Tridente Fuerte's leader, Martin Nuevo." Bella informed them. Tony wrinkled his face.

"I don't like how she has more information than we do." He grumbled, making Bella give him a wink in the rear view mirror.

"That's why I get to sit up here."

Finally they got to a little shack in Annapolis. As they passed a house, somebody closed the door and locked it.

"Feelin' the love." Tony muttered. Bella grinned.

"I lived in a place like this for a year." She said, looking around. She then stalked up to the door and started banging on it.

"¡NCIS, abre la puerta!"

There was no answer from inside, but Tony had a feeling someone was there.

"Señor Nuevo, abre la puerta. ¡Yo sé que es taza dentro¡"

Suddenly, gunshots filled the air, and Bella hit the ground, uninjured. Tony, McGee, and Gibbs followed suit, pulling out their guns.

Suddenly a man burst out of the house holding a rifle. As he ran past, Bella tripped him, and the rifle scattered across the yard. Gibbs picked it up and Bella cuffed the rifle owner,who was lying face down on the pavement.

"Es muy estúpido, Señor Nuevo. Yo se llama Leah. Tu es muy estúpido," Bella chattered cheerfully. Martin obviously recognized her, as he turned a sickly pale color. Bella kept talking in rapid Spanish, occasionally to reassure the neighbors, or sometimes to Martin.

Gibbs called another team to bring Martin. As the team started off again, Bella's carefree demeanor wore off.

"Bella?" Tony asked, hesitating. "Who is Leah?"

Bella shrugged, obviously not in the mood for explanations.

"Undercover identity," she said shortly. Tony didn't push her. He had a gut feeling that there was more to the story, but Bella looked pretty shaken up already.

The rest of the car ride was pretty silent, with irrelevant comments here and there. When they finally made it to the bullpen, Bishop was there waiting.

"Hey Bella," she greeted the other girl, kissing her on the cheek. "What's the current SITREP?"

Bella shrugged and pointed in the general direction of the interrogation room.

"El Tridente Fuerte is involved somehow. We're about to interview Martin Nuevo upstairs."

Bishop nodded and looked thoughtful. "I'll run a background check on Petty Officer Highland."

Gibbs gave her an approving look and turned to McGee.

"Looking through bank statements, phone records, looking for anything that links our Petty Officer to Martin Nuevo," McGee assured his boss, who looked at Tony.

"I will be here boss, getting a hold of Highland's CO."

Gibbs nodded, satisfied. "Bella, you're with me. Interrogation room, let's go!"

"Which side of the glass am I on, Gibbs?"

Bella asked as the two walked away. Tony turned to Bishop.

"So how is it that you know Bella? I swear that girl knows everyone, except me and Tim."

Bishop shrugged. "She gets around. I worked with her a couple of years back, took a liking to her, and kept in touch when she left. She left a lot."

Tim nodded. "Bella did say something about being restless."

"That's an understatement. The longest she's ever stayed in one place was until she was 10, and even then she was in and out of her home in Israel," A woman with a strong build and curly brown hair laughed.

"What is it with curly, brown-haired girls visiting us, and all knowing each other? Lemme guess, you know Ziva too?"

"Met her once or twice," The woman shrugged. Tony gave her a look, and Tim came forward.

"Kensi! What are you doing in D.C.?"

"We got shipped across the country, because of Martin Nuevo. And the food sucked," A largish man with a military cut complained coming up behind her. However, he wasn't nearly as large as the African American man behind him, who threw a duffel bag at Kensi.

"What did you pack, bricks?" He asked, making a man with a shaggy haircut laugh.

"Tony, Bishop, this is G Callen," Tim introduced the guy who had complained about the food.

"Sam Hanna," McGee pointed to the African American.

"Oh, Tim, you don't know Marty Deeks!" Kensi said, pointing in turn to the shaggy-haired man. He raised a hand in greeting.

"They're the Office of Special Projects, from LA," Tim told Bishop.

There was a commotion down the hall where the interrogation room was, making everyone jump.

"Crap," Tony, Bishop, and Tim all muttered, taking off towards the hall. In the hall, they met Gibbs, who was running back to interrogation as well.

They all burst into the room, with the OSP on their six, to find Bella testing her left arm, and Martin Nuevo lying on the floor, unconscious.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder," Bella shrugged. Then she brightened. "Hey, the OSP is here!"

Gibbs crossed over to Martin Nuevo, and recuffed his hands.

"I leave for five minutes...," Gibbs sighed. Bella gestured to Martin, then winced and felt her shoulder.

"Well, now we know not to uncuff him," she said, rotating her shoulder and wincing as it moved.

Gibbs handed Martin off to a burly agent, who was able to hold up Martin's dead weight, the crossed to Bella, and gripped her uninjured shoulder.

"You ok?" He asked. Bella, who was staring out in the air, started.

"What? Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm fine."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, no, I'm fine?"

"I'm fine."

"Tony," Gibbs gestured his senior agent over. "Take her to the hospital, get her looked over for shock, and get the shoulder taken care of."

"I'm fine!"

"Where are you staying?" Gibbs asked her, ignoring her protests. She didn't look him in the eyes.

"Uh, you know, with friends."

Gibbs sighed.

"Bella."

"Gibbs."

"A person has to sleep more than once a week."

Gibbs didn't sound like he was joking, and neither did Bella when she spoke next.

"Hey, I've made it work just fine."

"DiNozzo."

"Yeah, boss?"

"If the doctor says it's ok for her to sleep, let her crash at your place."

"For as long as she needs to, boss."

"I'm FINE!"

"The rest of you get some rest too, it's already 12:30."

DiNozzo put his hand on Bella's un-dislocated shoulder and steered her out.

"Don't resist, little ninja," He said, making her roll her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

So sorry for not updating sooner! My aunt just had a baby... ? ﾟﾘﾍ

if I owned NCIS...life would be great, and Tiva would be canon

"Welcome to DiNozzo place, you take the bed, I'll have the couch, and we'll all be just fine."

Bella shook her head.

"I want the couch. I can't ever sleep in beds."

Tony shrugged. "That's fine with me, believe me."

Bella sat on the couch, and began to take off the cloth sling, and stretch her newly relocated shoulder, still wincing.

"That's going to hurt even more if you don't let it rest," Tony warned, watching her. She shook her head.

"I've had worse. You should've seen the time I was kidnapped and brought to Somalia."

Tony felt his blood run cold as Bella continued.

"Ziva was there for that, though she didn't know I was there. I was supposed to break her, but then, I guess they didn't need be for that, so they just started trying to break me because I was me, and I know things. I thought I was going to die there."

"Why? Somebody would've rescued you."

Bella shook her head. "I am disposable. No family, not too many friends. They knew it too. They were giving up on getting information out of me, so they were going to kill me. But then there was a fight, wherever Saleem was, and he died. His guards left to fight, but they died too."

Tony decided the worst part of the whole ordeal was how matter of factly she talked about it. There was no emotions connected.

"How did you get back then?"

Bella gave him a look. "I walked."

Tony shook his head. "Ziva could barely walk with our help."

"You were there?"

Tony hesitated. "Yeah. We, uh. We rescued Ziva. We didn't realize..."

"That there was anyone else there," Bella finished for him. "Don't worry about it. Really, I got out okay, so no worries."

That said, Bella stretched out on the couch, turned over, and immediately fell asleep. Shaking his head, Tony entered his room and began getting ready for bed. His phone rang, and he picked it up quickly.

"Dinozzo."

"She asleep, Dinozzo?"

"Yes boss. Boss,- she- she was there, in Somalia, when we rescued Ziva. We left her there, to make her own way to safety, while we happily made our way back. We left a kid there, Gibbs. A kid who was originally supposed to be there only as a bargaining chip. The only reason she was ever tortured was because she was no longer needed for bargaining. The only reason she was no longer needed was because we showed up."

Gibbs said nothing, making an eerie silence. Tony was a little ashamed of dumping everything on Gibbs like that, but he needed to tell someone.

"She tell you that, Dinozzo?" Gibbs finally asked. Tony nodded, then realized Gibbs couldn't see him.

"Uh, yeah boss. Right before passing out on my couch."

"Bring her to work tomorrow. Do not leave her alone, is that clear?"

"Crystal."

Tony's dreams that night were punctuated by horrific images of Bella in Somalia .


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to all reading! Updates are going to come every few days now... Sorry, I'm sluggishly battling writers block :( if any of my plot doesn't make sense, please tell me in a review, so I can fix it... Thxxxx! Long chapter for your patience..

i still dont don't own ncis but I have patience

Tony woke up the next morning to the smell of cooking eggs. He leapt up, grabbed his gun, and ran into the kitchen to find- breakfast. He turned around and found Bella, who was staring at him amusedly.

"Good morning, breakfast's ready," she told him cheerily. He narrowed his eyes, and looked suspiciously at the omelette on the table.

"Is this from my fridge?" he asked, poking it. She swatted his hand away and nodded.

"Hurry up, we have to be at HQ by eight."

"How did you know where everything was?" Tony pressed, ignoring her attempts to make him eat faster.

"I just looked around a bit. Hurry up!"

He finally obeyed, eating carefully. At last they were safely to NCIS, where they found the OSP, and the MCRT waiting.

"How's the shoulder?" Kensi asked Bella. She shrugged, then winced.

"Not fantastic. But okay," she admitted reluctantly. Kensi leaned over to whisper to Tony.

"For her, that pretty much means she's in agony," she explained. Tony nodded to show he understood, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Your bracelet," he pointed suddenly. "It matches Zi's necklace."

Bella shook her wrist, making the gold chain on it slide to reveal the small Star of David pendant that hung off it.

"It was Tali's. My Imma had a ring. Ziva had the necklace. Tali had the bracelet," she explained fondly. Then her ADHD took her mind down a different topic.

"What does the OSP have to do with Martin Nuevo?" she asked, turning to look at Callen. "Has he been killing in LA?"

"Uh, he has been ordering hits, at least we suspect he has, on old enemies," Callen responded, recovering from his surprise at the subject change. "Mostly in LA."

"It was a dead end with Martin's interrogation," Bishop informed them, swinging around the overflow of agents to get to her desk. "He was silent the whole time. Gibbs is with the director."

"Hey, did someone get a hold of Highland's CO?" Tony asked as he sat down at his own desk, mirroring Bishop. McGee and Bishop both shook their heads.

"I couldn't connect Highland or Nuevo either," McGee told Tony. "I've looked through tons of documents."

The MCRT settled at their desks, while Bella and Kensi sat in the middle of the bullpen, talking with Deeks. Callen and Sam were on their phones, betting on a football game, leaning against the walls next to the window.

"Hard at work?" Gibbs asked, trotting down the staircase. McGee hurriedly put his comic book away, Bishop put down her book, and took her earbuds out, and Tony reluctantly turned Top Gun off.

"We were uh,-"

"Refueling our attention and energy," Tony cut McGee off smoothly.

Bishop rolled her eyes, then gestured to the OSP plus Bella. Bishop hurriedly withdrew her hand as Bella playfully attempted to bite it.

"They're going to need a work space," she pointed out. Gibbs surveyed everyone. Callen was now attempting to steal Sam's phone, Kensi was rock, paper, scissor-ing Deeks, and Bella was typing feverishly on Bishop's computer.

"Put 'em in the next bullpen," he commanded. Bishop reached around Bella to her phone to call maintenance.

"Bella, what are you doing?" she asked her. Bishop looked at Bella uncertainly. There was a scary light of brilliance that danced in her eyes.

"The field where Highland was found. If it was Nuevo, it would be symbolic. I'm trying to find-"

"A connection between Martin and the park in Annapolis," McGee finished, catching on. "I'll look at gang activity if you do history."

"Deal."

The next few minutes were filled with lots of chaos and noise from the OSP, and feverish concentration from Bella and McGee.

"I found something!" Bella called to McGee, who nodded and grinned at her over his computer.

"Same. You go first."

Bella nodded, and brought a timeline up to the plasma. Tony stood up and joined Gibbs, Bishop and McGee in the middle of the bullpen.

"March, 1994. Martin Nuevo had a son. They were repetitively seen playing at that field, until his son was shot at 6 years of age-"

"By another gang!" McGee interrupted excitedly. "Which gang is still unknown, but Nuevo wasn't with his son when he died because-"

"This man stopped him!" Bella cut him off in turn, grabbing the clicker and pulled up PO Highlander's picture. "Highland was working anti-gang ops around the Annapolis hospital. He recognized Nuevo, and attempted to apprehend him. During the fight, Martin's son died."

"There were a number of people Nuevo blamed, other than Highland," Kensi said from the next bull pen. "He killed all of the LA residents he blamed. He must be going down a hit list."

Gibbs quickly began delegating tasks. "Bishop. You and McGee compile a possible list of his next victims."

"Wait," Bishop held a finger up. "We have him in custody. How would he kill the next victim?"

"He's got a gang, Probie," Tony explained from his desk. "He probably did NO killing himself."

"Tony, go through bank records of gang members," Gibbs instructed. Tony nodded, turning to his computer.

"To see if I can construct who's in this assassination club. Got it boss."

"Agent Blye-"

"Kensi," the woman in question interrupted. "Sorry."

"Kensi. Help Bishop and McGee with the hit list. Add your knowledge. Agents Callen and Hanna, you're with me back in interrogation. Detective Deeks, Bella. Work out a new angle."

Gibbs was silent for a minute before a small smile appeared on his features. He looked around at his small army.

"I like having so many team members," he said, answering his ringing phone. "Gibbs," he was quiet a minute as he gazed in the direction of MTAC. "I'll be there in 30 seconds sir."

As he climbed up the staircase he looked down at the two teams.

"Callen, Hanna, start without me. I'm in MTAC," he stared at everyone. "What are you all waiting for? Go!"

Everyone hurried to oblige. As Callen and Sam went off to further torture-I mean interrogate- Martin Nuevo, Bishop, Kensi and McGee huddled together around McGee's computer. Tony began typing on his computer. Deeks and Bella went to their new desks in the next bull pen. The next half hour was fairly quiet, with a frenzied murmur as the teams worked on their respective tasks.

"Anybody have anything?" Tony asked after 30 minutes. Kensi looked up, as did Bishop, but McGee kept typing.

"Well, we have a few prospective victims. All his past victims were part of the anti-gang military op, regardless of if they were directly involved with him. There were about 30 operatives to begin with, and now we have 6 or 7 left," Kensi reported.

"Anyone eye catching ?" Tony asked. Bishop shrugged, chewing on a couple of chips.

McGee shook his head, his eyes scanning the computer screen.

"No one special," McGee said. "I mean, no one noticeable."

"Wait, wait wait. HOLD ON," Kensi stopped everyone in their tracks, including Deeks and Bella. "What about Highland's wife? Isn't that her there?"

Kensi was pointing to a picture on her laptop. It held Martin Nuevo and the PO's wife, among other people.

"With Martin's gang, and some other people I don't recognize," Bella nodded, pulling the picture up to the plasma. Tony began grinning incessantly.

"It was the wife, I'm telling you. It was the wife," Tony starting repeating. Bella sighed, but brought her own laptop to the MCRT bullpen.

"Unfortunately, Tony may have a good theory. That's an angle Deeks and I have been working. Highland's wife, Maura, met Martin at Quantico a while back. She was pretty sympathetic to his issues."

"What kind of sympathetic are we talking?" Tony asked, making everyone except Deeks glare at him. "Y'know, like, 'oh sucks for you' sympathetic, or like 'oh, you poor thing, let me help you feel better in x-rated ways' sympathetic?"

Bella and Deeks burst out laughing, and Kensi, McGee, and Bishop reluctantly began smiling.

"That was so bad, it was funny," Bella managed to say. "Don't ever explain anything like that!"

"Well?" Tony demanded. "I don't have my answer!"

"A little bit of both," Bella rolled her eyes. "I think it started out as the first one, and ended up like the second one. But that's not important."

"I don't know," Tony interrupted her. "That information could be crucial in breaking the wife."

"The important bit," Bella continued, glaring at Tony. "Is that Maura had connections to everyone in the gang ops team. She's our prime suspect."

"What's that picture from?" Callen asked, coming into the bullpen in time to hear the end of the new theory. "Nuevo still keeping his silence, by the way."

"Ummm," it was quiet for a moment as Kensi did a system search. "That's weird. A soirée in NY for Maura's little sister's sweet sixteen."

"So why did Martin go, but not Highland?" Bella asked. "An affair, perhaps?"

"Print me that pic, Kens," Sam requested. He waited for it to print, then nodded his thanks, and he and Callen began heading back to interrogation.

"Whadd'ya got?" Gibbs called as he raced down the stairs. Sam and Callen halted, and began grinning.

"Perfect timing Gibbs," Callen called. "I'll fill you in on the way to interrogation.


	5. Chapter 5

I still don't own NCIS :(

"Martin Nuevo," Gibbs drawled, dropping into a chair across Nuevo in the interrogation room. Nuevo stared blankly above Gibbs head, emotionless. Gibbs dropped the photo and Nuevo's head dipped quickly to glance at it. When he raised his head again, there was an odd glimmer in his eyes.

"Hey G," Sam said suddenly from his corner. Callen gave his partner a nod from his corner of the room. "You see that sparkle in Martin's eye?"

Martin turned to glare at Sam, who raised an eyebrow innocently. Callen cocked his head and gave a slow nod, and Martin turned to look at him menacingly.

"I do see it. More of a glimmer really. You see it Agent Gibbs?" Callen asked the agent who was sitting at the table. Nuevo shifted his gaze back to Gibbs who stared at him critically.

"Mhmm. I think it's a flash," Gibbs said quietly. It was quiet for a moment before he slapped a file on the table, making Nuevo flinch involuntarily. "A flash of fear. What was that picture from, Nuevo? Why were you at Maura Highland's little sister's Sweet Sixteen, with your gang?"

Martin Nuevo leaned forward and grinned.

"Maybe I, how you say? Crush on the missus?" Martin's sardonic grin spread even wider. "And she... She did no refuse."

With that, he sat back, and didn't speak.

Meanwhile, back in the bullpen, Tony was printing out a list, and he hurried to his boss when Gibbs came in with Sam and Callen.

"Hey boss, I got a list of gang members that look good for the murders," Tony offered. Gibbs nodded as he took the paper.

"Put it up," he said, gesturing to the plasma. Tony put an electronic version of the list on the screen.

"So I went through each of the gang members that looked good for the killings, and these are the ones who were in DC during Highlands murder," Tony explained, gesturing to the plasma. He hurried over to his computer and pressed a button, causing the printer to whir to life.

"This is a list of any gang members in Los Angeles at the time of the LA murders," Tony continued, handing Gibbs the second sheet of paper. Gibbs looked at it briefly, before turning back to Tony.

"Any connections?" Gibbs asked, holding the two lists up. Tony nodded, and brought a file up on the plasma.

"Luis Congrejo, 26, according to word on the street, seems to be Nuevo's right hand man, and protege. He has no alibi for multiple murders, _and_ he was in the cities when they occurred," Tony said, pointing to the plasma. "He's got quite the rap sheet. I've already tried to call him. No answer."

"What about the wife?" Gibbs queried, looking around. "Anyone contact her yet?"

"I tried to get a call through to her while you guys were in interrogation," Bishop offered apologetically. "But she was out, had an appointment with a Ron Valey. I mentioned it was about her husband's homicide, but she still didn't call back."

"Tony did manage to get ahold of Highland's CO. Said he was an good guy, with the best intentions and all that wonderful jazz," Bella joined in from where she sat, next to Bishop on the floor.

"Alright, Tony and McGee, see if you guys can get an address for Congrejo, and go check it out. Kensi and Deeks, you guys get addresses for any other gang members that could've committed those murders," Gibbs instructed. "The rest of you keep trying to get the wife, and look into the sister too."

I'm not quite sure where this is going, so if anyone has any ideas where this could go, please tell me! Otherwise I'll have to muddle through it, and it's that much longer until an update ;)


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